Lamond leads Brewer hockey team by rival Rams

Brewer goalie Adam Cossette makes the initial stop on a shot by Bangor's Zach Papsadora but Bangor went up 2-0 on Brewer in the first when Papsadora put the rebound in the net. Brewer won 7-4.

MICHAEL C. YORK | BDN

MICHAEL C. YORK | BDN

Brewer forward Lucas Lamond , left, fires the puck past the glove side of Bangor goalie Chris Howat in the second period of their game in Orono, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011. Brewer won 7-4.

MICHAEL C. YORK | BDN

MICHAEL C. YORK | BDN

Brewer goalie Adam Cossette (1) poke checks the puck away from Bangor's Connor Griffin (4) in the first period of their game in Orono, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011. Brewer won 7-4.

ORONO — It was a bit of deja vu for Brewer High School right winger Lucas Lamond in the Witches’ 7-4 hockey victory over archrival Bangor in the fourth Fill the Alfond game Thursday night.

Last year, Lamond scored a pair of first-period goals to send the Witches on their way to a 10-4 victory over Bangor.

He waited a period to score two goals Thursday, tying the game at the 8:44 mark of the second period and putting the Witches ahead to stay 3:51 later as unbeaten Brewer overcame a 2-0 deficit en route to the thrilling victory at Alfond Arena.

Defending state Class B champion Brewer improved to 16-0-1 and is 8-1-1 in the last 10 meetings with Bangor.

Class A Bangor finished its regular season at 10-8 and had its three-game winning streak snapped.

The teams are now 2-2 in the Fill the Alfond series and approximately 1,700 fans turned out at Alfond, which holds more than 5,000.

A highlight-reel goal by Kyle Alexander finally sewed up the win for Brewer with 3:22 remaining in regulation. That made it 6-4.

The Witches scored three times in a span of 4:13 in the second period to transform a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead.

Bangor had stunned the heavily-favored Witches by taking a 2-0 lead on early first-period goals just one minute apart by Nic Cota and Zach Papsadora.

Chris Howat preserved the lead with a number of quality saves until Jake Valley scored with 1:44 left in the initial period.

In the second period, after Lamond scored his pair, Jacob Chapman scored 22 seconds later to make it 4-2.

“We usually demoralize teams in the third period but Bangor fought hard the whole time. They came to play,” said Lamond, whose Witches had won the previous two games against Bangor by a combined score of 19-7.

Adam Cossette came up with a number of important saves to preserve the one-goal lead until Alexander gave the Witches some much-needed breathing room with a terrific individual effort after gaining the puck in the neutral zone on the backcheck.

“The puck came to my stick and there were two guys on me that I avoided quickly,” said Alexander, who came into the offensive zone in a one-on-two.

“I beat the first defenseman to the inside and then put the puck through the legs of the second defenseman,” said Alexander, who burst around him and regained the puck.

“I waited until the goalie went down and put it five-hole.”

“He (Alexander) was going wide and then he stopped and cut back,” said Howat. “I was transferring my weight back and he put it under my left leg. He’s quick, he has good hands and he’s pretty small so he can get around people.”

Alexander added another on a breakaway off an Evan Nadeau pass with 1:39 left as he pulled the puck to the backhand and swept it into the net past the helpless Howat. That was a power-play goal.

“I coached (Alexander) him with the (Maine) Freeze last year and he was our go-to guy,” said Bangor coach Denis Collins. “When he goes in one-on-one, he rarely doesn’t score. He’s a skilled player.”Cota opened the scoring just eight seconds after the Rams went on the power play in the first period as his low wrist shot from the left point skipped through a posse of legs and beat Cossette at the 2:20 mark.

Papsadora expanded the lead by taking the puck in the neutral zone, bursting in alone from left to right across the low slot and roofing a backhander into the short side after Cossette had stopped his initial shot.

Howat was sharp as the quicker Witches generated chance after chance in trying to climb back into it.

“Bangor came out strong and shocked us,” said Brewer senior defenseman Valley.

Brewer was rewarded for its persistence when the puck squirted to the left point following a multiple-shot flurry and Valley snapped a screened shot past Howat.

Lamond tied it in the second period with a rising wrister into the short-side corner directly off a Tyler White faceoff win.

“Spencer Valley went to the net and screened the goalie and I shot it quick,” said Lamond.

He scored again off a precise pass from behind the net by Alexander which left him a half-empty net to deposit the puck.

“(Alexander) slipped it through a few defenders and I one-timed it,” said Lamond.

Chapman scored off a nice play by White, who muscled his way past a Ram defenseman and fed it across to him for an easy tap-in off a two-on-none.

Cota got the Rams back into the game with a wrister from the middle of the slot that sailed over Cossette’s glove. Cota had stickhandled across the slot into better shooting position.

“Coach (Collins) told us someone needed to step it up in the third period but it was a whole team effort,” said Cota.

White quickly responded off a pass from behind the net by Nadeau but Papsadora was set up perfectly by Phil Frost as he went in one-on-one, pulled the puck around Cossette and slid it into the empty net.

‘We had a bad second period and that was the game,” said Cota.

“We played very well and they played very well,” said Brewer coach Dave Shedd. “We got some better bounces. There were some neutral-zone turnovers and things like that that really helped us.”

Brewer outshot Bangor 37-24.

Alexander had two assists to go with his two goals, White had two assists to go with his goal and Nadeau had three assists. Frost had three assists for Bangor.